Rep. Maxine Waters defended “Obamacare[4]” on the eve of the U.S. Supreme Court[5] making a decision on its constitutionality, saying health-care reform is necessary but Republicans will do anything to criticize President Obama[6].

“We’re doing everything we can do to deal with this but I want you to know we’re being confronted with a very, very difficult Republican Party that is being led by the Tea Party[10],” Waters said.

“The first salvo on that war was the attack on health-care reform. Republicans nicknamed it ‘Obamacare.’ They said it was unAmerican and unconstitutional. They said it would lead to death panels and would lead to the end of freedom in American as we know it. Of course, it wasn’t true,” Waters said.

“Where this ‘Obamacare’ came from and this constitutional argument came from, I think was not borne out of a concern about whether or not people had health care, but because a decision was made to attack whatever this president does.”

“I was raised in St. Louis, Mo., and we were like everybody else in those years. We didn’t have very much,” she said. “I can recall that there were children who never saw a dentist and when they had a cavity in those days, the old folks would take cotton and turpentine and put it in that cavity and rock those children to sleep to try to stop the pain because they could not afford a dentist.”

She said also remembers “eavesdropping” on her parents and older women when they talked about menopause, back before women regularly visited doctors.

“That’s when they said women went crazy,” Waters said.

The room was packed with women, whose laughter briefly drowned out the congresswoman.

U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, was provided Waters’ remarks on Obamacare and asked his opinion.

“Maxine Waters needs to drop the president’s divisive campaign rhetoric and focus on improving our country’s economy,” he said. “If the healthcare bill is found unconstitutional, Rep. Waters has to explain why she spent three years defending a trillion dollar government takeover instead of putting people back to work.”

[7] talked about a range of topics when she addressed fellow Democrats: http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2012/06/23/maxine-waters-tea-party-bring/74676/

[8] House District 7: http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/topic/house-district-7/

[9] war on women: http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/topic/war-on-women/

[10] Tea Party: http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/topic/tea-party/

[11] The Supreme Court is expected to issue its opinion this week: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-health-care-ruling-likely-to-have-long-term-fallout/2012/06/21/gJQA36KssV_story.html